Now, we know you can’t see us. So, you’ll have to believe that we’re all smiling like a bunch of schoolkids at these spy shots of Minichamps’ in-process 1:18 1955 Lincoln Futura – the lead-off piece for their upcoming Dream Cars series. According to our source, this pre-production image is finalized in its shape – but the body will be painted, and the silver sections, including the bumpers and the twin-bubble canopy, will be chromed when the big resin model debuts within the next few weeks.

For those of you who either can’t see a certain resemblance to a famous TV crime-fighting machine, or who don’t know the story of what is possibly the most famous car in the world, the 1955 Lincoln Futura was the basis for George Barris’ 1966 creation – the Batmobile – which sold only a couple of evenings ago for a cool 4.2 million bucks.

Before it got Bat-tized, the car had made the show circuits as part of FoMoCo’s dream fleet (even though the ’56 and ’57 Lincoln cars its lines and features supposedly had spawned were already production approved before the Futura was built). Because it was a fully running machine, the Futura had been featured in the movie It Started With A Kiss, for which its outrageously expensive light green pearlescent paint had been blown over with a rude red. Barris later bought it for a buck – and the rest is history.

This sample is still in basic resin white; we can expect the finished model to have the original’s correct green… and there’s a good chance that a follow-up, possibly a limited edition, will appear as the car from the movie. We can’t wait. Stay tuned. - DCX

Gallery > Minichamps 1:18 Lincoln Futura Pre-Pro

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About the author

I was always crazy about toy cars and car-themed play sets, but I got hooked on car models when my cousin sent me a pair of built-up AMT kits - a '61 Continental and a '57 Thunderbird. I was six or seven years old when another cousin - Carl - showed me how to build and paint, and by the time I was nine, I had a pretty good collection and a great "spares box" on hand. The original Auto World catalogs were my dream books; my allowance was spent before it was ever earned, and I knew every hobby store and model retailer on Long Island. Then came slot cars, Cox .049-engined Baja Buggies and airplanes, and, ultimately, the real things. I still have some of those old models, and when time allows, I still build or detail scale cars. But it's the ready-to-display replicas and scale racing models that have really had me jazzed for the past fifteen years or so. The "mint" diecasts and the 1:18 American Muscle cars that I cut my serious collecting (and writing) teeth on back then led straight to the current crop of offerings from high-end makers and models in every scale. I also love scale model photography, and shooting, scoring, and producing videos of the models I love. I'm a proud member of the DiecastSpace Diecast Hall of Fame, as well as the Diecast Car Collectors' Club Diecast Scale Model Hall of Fame. I'm also proud to be a part of the Die Cast X Team, and as Editor-in-Chief, I'm looking forward to years of growing the publication and showing new collectors how much fun this hobby can be. And, yeah - I still have that spares box.

im interested in holden models from the 60 70s 80s and also the aussy fords in 1/18 1/24 in australia they can get our cars why dont yall sell theirs here even their chryslers are diffrent i know there is a mkt for them yall are missing the boat

Holdens are cool cars – no doubt about it – and other brands from Australia are big hits with Stateside collectors. AUTOart, for instance, has done well with their Australian-market Hemi Charger, a vastly different car than its counterpart here in the US.

One of the most prolific makers of Aussie cars is Biante, and we’ll do our best to get a pipeline of product from them in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. In the meantime, if any other readers share Randy’s love of thunder from Down Under, let us know.